''Pterostylis aneba'' is a species of orchid endemic to south-eastern

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. It is a recently described and poorly-known greenhood similar to ''

Pterostylis alpina ''Pterostylis alpina'', commonly known as the mountain greenhood, is a species of orchid endemic to south-eastern Australia. It has a rosette of fleshy leaves at the base and usually only one white flower with green markings and back-swept ...

'' and '' P. monticola''. It has a rosette of fleshy leaves at the base of the plant and a single green and white flower. It grows in alpine and sub-alpine habitats.

Description

''Pterostylis aneba'' is a terrestrial, perennial, deciduous,

herb In general use, herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables and other plants consumed for macronutrients, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal ...

with an underground tuber and a rosette of three to five egg-shaped leaves surrounding the base of the flowering stem. Each leaf is long and wide. A single green and white flower about long is borne on a spike up to high. The dorsal sepal and

petal Petals are modified Leaf, leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often advertising coloration, brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. All of the petals of a flower are collectively known as the ''c ...

s are fused, forming a hood or "galea" over the

column A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member. ...

. The dorsal sepal is the same length as the petals and curves forward with a pointed tip. There is a gap between the galea and the lateral sepals. The lateral sepals are erect and have thread-like tips 15–20 mm long and a slightly bulging V-shaped sinus between them. The labellum is long, about wide, green or brown and curved and protrudes above the sinus. Flowering occurs from December to February.

Taxonomy and naming

''Pterostylis aneba'' was first formally described in 2006 by David Jones and the description was published in ''Australian Orchid Research'' from a specimen collected at Packers Swamp, west of

Bemboka Bemboka is a town in the South Coast region of New South Wales, Australia. The town is located on the Snowy Mountains Highway, in the Bega Valley Shire local government area, south of the state capital, Sydney. At the , the Bemboka gazetted lo ...

Distribution and habitat

This greenhood grows in moist grassy areas in montane forest and near streams in southern New South Wales and north-eastern Victoria.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15493166 aneba Endemic orchids of Australia Orchids of New South Wales Orchids of Victoria (Australia) Plants described in 2006